‘What Is Ethics and Why Is It Important for Thinking About Media?’
‘What is ethics and why is it important for thinking about media?’ You should use recent examples from the media in your response.’
Living in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction, almost every person has access through radio, television, newspaper, and new electronic media to the latest circulated information. Through this information, one is able to shape their opinion about a particular fact. Nevertheless, media have the power to form our beliefs and opinions. We have put our trust on the media as an authority that give us news, entertainment and education. Thus, if the right role of the media is seen as providing information, then, it is precisely the quality of this information that we should concern; hence here is where ethics take place. This essay firstly attempts to define what ethics is, secondly what is their relation to the media is, and finally, an example that fails to be ethical will be given.
Ethics, a term coming from the Greek ‘ethos’ , which means ‘character’(Perebinossoff, 2008, pg10) is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior”.( Fieser, 2003) Paul and Elder (2006, pg1) define ethics as "a set of concepts and principles that guide us in determining what behavior helps or harms sentient creatures".
Ethics propose that you ought something and the basic argue says a person ought to put their self on a path that they currently may not be on, and they are more or less to be expected to engage in the sorts of particular behaviors that ethics thinks they ought to do. Ethics doesn’t say just “ought” but it also gives them a particular goal to follow. It says someone ought to do do/be/follow X.( Perebinossoff, P. (2008) Different ethical theories argue that you ought to “be” ethical (virtue ethics), or “do” ethical things (utilitarianism), or “follow” ethical principles or maxims (Duty Ethics). (Fieser, 2003)
Living in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction, almost every person has access through radio, television, newspaper, and new electronic media to the latest circulated information. Through this information, one is able to shape their opinion about a particular fact. Nevertheless, media have the power to form our beliefs and opinions. We have put our trust on the media as an authority that give us news, entertainment and education. Thus, if the right role of the media is seen as providing information, then, it is precisely the quality of this information that we should concern; hence here is where ethics take place. This essay firstly attempts to define what ethics is, secondly what is their relation to the media is, and finally, an example that fails to be ethical will be given.
Ethics, a term coming from the Greek ‘ethos’ , which means ‘character’(Perebinossoff, 2008, pg10) is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior”.( Fieser, 2003) Paul and Elder (2006, pg1) define ethics as "a set of concepts and principles that guide us in determining what behavior helps or harms sentient creatures".
Ethics propose that you ought something and the basic argue says a person ought to put their self on a path that they currently may not be on, and they are more or less to be expected to engage in the sorts of particular behaviors that ethics thinks they ought to do. Ethics doesn’t say just “ought” but it also gives them a particular goal to follow. It says someone ought to do do/be/follow X.( Perebinossoff, P. (2008) Different ethical theories argue that you ought to “be” ethical (virtue ethics), or “do” ethical things (utilitarianism), or “follow” ethical principles or maxims (Duty Ethics). (Fieser, 2003)